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Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II is a BrainPOP Social Studies video that launched on April 30, 2011. Summary Appearances *Tim *Moby *Little Jimmy Transcript *Queen Elizabeth II/Transcript Quiz *Queen Elizabeth II/Quiz Trivia * The tune that Little Jimmy plays on the lute is Bouree in E Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. FYI Trivia * Elizabeth II is the 40th English monarch since William the Conqueror took over in 1066. * Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit China. * As of 2011, Elizabeth’s reign has seen 12 different British Prime Ministers. She has had regular Tuesday evening meetings with all of them. * Although the Queen’s birthday is April 21st, the UK officially celebrates it in June. A tradition to observe the reigning monarch’s birthday in the late spring was started more than 100 years ago to ensure that any official celebrations would have a higher likelihood of nice weather. * Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1952 was the first of its kind to be televised. In advance of the event, more than 1.5 million British homes installed television sets—quickly doubling the number of British homes with TVs! * In 1991, Queen Elizabeth became the first British monarch to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress. * In 1982, the Queen awoke to find an intruder at the foot of her bed in Buckingham Palace! Although the man was troubled, he turned out to be harmless, and the Queen talked with him for 10 minutes before he was removed by security. * According to an analysis by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the Queen’s net worth is around $425 million. * Three days after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Queen gave permission for “The Star Spangled Banner” to be played during the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. * Technically, the Queen owns all the sturgeons, whales, and dolphins that swim in British waters. Way Back When For the first decade of her life, Elizabeth II had little chance of becoming Queen. Her grandfather was king, and her uncle Edward was prepared to succeed him. Edward was still a young man, and everyone assumed he’d get married, have kids, and eventually pass the crown to them. Handsome and popular, Edward (pictured) stood in stark contrast to his younger brother Albert—Elizabeth’s father—who was knock-kneed, shy, and had a stammer. But Edward had a habit of indulging in immature, reckless behavior—to the point where his father privately hoped he’d never become king. But he did, in January 1936, and he immediately became involved in a major scandal. For a few years, Edward had been dating a married American woman named Wallis Simpson. After inheriting the throne, he announced that they’d get married as soon as her divorce was complete. This was a problem. As King, Edward was head of the Church of England, which forbade re-marriage after divorce. Moreover, the Royal Family despised Mrs. Simpson, and there were rumors that she sympathized with Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Parliament officially voted against the marriage, as did the governments of several Commonwealth nations. To prevent a crisis, the British Prime Minister told Edward to choose between Mrs. Simpson and the throne. He chose Mrs. Simpson, and abdicated, or gave up the throne, just 11 months after he became king. The crown passed to Albert, who took the regnal name (an official name sometimes used by monarchs and Popes) George VI. Albert overcame his weaknesses and became a popular king, earning admiration by remaining in London while the city endured Nazi bombings during World War II. When he died in 1952, his eldest daughter, Elizabeth, inherited the throne . . . and the rest, as they say, is history! Did You Know? The Queen and her family spend their time in a number of palaces, castles, and other homes throughout Great Britain. Here’s a look at some of them. Buckingham Palace (pictured) is the Queen’s London residence. Built in 1705, it became an official royal palace when Queen Victoria moved in in 1837. With 77,000 square meters of floor space, it hosts the Queen’s Gallery, which displays priceless works of art from the royal collection to the public. Here, the Queen bestows knighthoods on worthy people; entertains foreign heads of state; and hosts banquets, receptions, and garden parties. Buckingham Palace boasts 240 bedrooms, 19 state rooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms! The Queen often spends her weekends at Windsor Castle, in the English countryside. Built in the 11th century, it’s among the oldest royal castles in Europe, and is a major tourist attraction. Much of the architecture hearkens back to medieval times, which gives visitors a sense of the grandeur and history of the British monarchy. A fire in 1992 did serious damage, and led to major renovations. Holyrood Palace is the Queen’s official Scottish residence, and she usually stays there for a week every July. It’s in the city of Edinburgh, and has been used by the Kings and Queens of Scotland since the 15th century (the Scottish and English monarchies merged in 1603). Like Buckingham Palace, it contains an art gallery, and is open to the public except when the Queen is in residence. Unlike the Queen’s other residences, Balmoral Castle (in Aberdeenshire, Scotland) and Sandringham House (near the coast of Norfolk, England) are the Royal Family’s private property. The Queen often stays at Sandringham from Christmas through February, and Balmoral during August and September. Famous Faces Queen Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, have four children. The eldest is Prince Charles (pictured, center). As Prince of Wales, Charles is heir to the throne, and will become king when Elizabeth’s reign ends. Prince Charles was born in 1948, and graduated from the University of Cambridge before serving as a pilot in the Royal Navy. He married the beautiful and popular Princess Diana in 1981, and their wedding drew a worldwide television audience of 750 million. But the couple divorced in 1996, and Diana died in a car crash the following year. In 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker-Bowles. Charles and Diana had two sons: Prince William, born in 1982, and Prince Henry, known as “Harry,” born in 1984. William (pictured, right), second in line to the throne, had a somewhat unusual upbringing for a prince. His mother wanted her children to experience “normal things,” so he and Harry played video games and visited places like McDonald’s and Disney World when they were boys. William also briefly worked as a schoolteacher in Chile, where he lived in a house with other volunteers, did chores, and even served as a guest DJ on a local radio station. Like his father, he trained as a military pilot, and has done charity work on behalf of homeless people and victims of natural disasters. In 2003, while studying at St. Andrew’s University in Scotland, William began dating a fellow student named Kate Middleton. He proposed to her in 2008 while they were visiting a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary, and the couple married in April 2011. They've since had two children, a son named George, in 2013, and a daughter named Charlotte, in 2015. Prince Harry (pictured, left), third in line to the throne, gained a reputation as a “wild child” for his love of parties and prankish sense of humor—but he’s also donated a lot of his time to charity work. He loves rugby, skiing, and motocross, and he enlisted in the military instead of going to college. He actually served 77 days on the front lines in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban! In 2017, he proposed marriage to American actress Meghan Markle. Real Life On August 31, 1997, Princess Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris. The princess had been married to Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, but the couple divorced in 1996. Diana’s hands-on charity work on behalf of the homeless, AIDS patients, and others made her extremely popular, and earned her the nickname “the People’s Princess.” Her warmth and liveliness—and even her insecurities and romantic failures—allowed the public to relate to her, and set her apart from the other Royals, who could often appear distant and unemotional. Following Diana’s death, Britain was gripped by public outpourings of grief. Millions of flowers were left at the gates of Kensington Palace in London, where Diana had lived. Meanwhile, the Royal Family was at Balmoral Castle in the Scottish countryside. To protect the privacy of Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, they decided to remain in seclusion. Following official Royal procedure, the Queen issued no official statement, and did not return to London. With emotions running high, the press began criticizing the Queen for her silence, and her popularity among the British public dipped. Finally, at the urging of Prince Charles and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Queen broke with tradition. She came back to London, allowed the flag over Buckingham Palace to be flown at half-mast—which had never been done before—and gave a televised statement expressing admiration for Diana and grief at her passing. It was only the second time (apart from traditional pre-recorded Christmas broadcasts) that the Queen addressed her subjects on radio or TV. Soon, the clamor died down, and the Queen’s popularity returned to its usual high level. Diana’s death, and the breaks in royal tradition that followed, marked a key phase in the modernization of the British monarchy. The episode was dramatized in the 2006 film The Queen, which earned actress Helen Mirren an Academy Award for her portrayal of Elizabeth II. FYI Comic Newslea https://newsela.com/read/britain-palace Category:BrainPOP Episodes Category:Social Studies Category:Famous Historical Figures Category:Women's History Category:World History Category:2011 Episodes Category:Females Category:Episodes in April Category:April 2011 Episodes